Xie Lian cut him off. “No fear. Release it. NOW!”
Mu Qing gritted his teeth, and he and Feng Xin dropped their hands at the same time. Sure enough, with the restraints off, the resentful spirits screeched, ready to go wild! However, in the next second, Xie Lian reached out lightning fast and choked a particular wisp of black smoke.
He didn’t even look, just strangled that black smoke with his bare hands, gripping it firmly in his palm. The moment he caught that one resentful spirit, all the others in the crazed swarm within the Palace of Xianle grew sluggish.
Outside the Palace of Xianle, everyone silently nodded.
In a situation where a large swarm of resentful spirits gathered in the same place, they usually followed the lead of the strongest one. Once that one was caught, the spirits would lose direction without their leader. At that moment, Xie Lian had instantly recognized the strongest one and choked it, leaving it no chance. With only a squeeze, that one resentful spirit disintegrated into nothing in his palm.
Immediately after, the four State Preceptors raised their sleeves and called out, “Come back!”
That swarm of resentful spirits, having lost its leader, flew haphazardly around the Xianle Palace like a band of headless flies until finally they had no choice but to resign themselves to their fate and reluctantly returned to the seals within the State Preceptors’ qiankun sleeves. Dozens of other cultivators continued to put out the remaining fires, and only when the heavy smoke had finally dispersed did Xie Lian clearly see the figures of the other three.
Feng Xin and Mu Qing were half-kneeled on the floor, still in shock. Behind them, the child was still holding his head, not uttering a word.
The State Preceptors entered and spoke after only a glance.
“Where did that child come from? Feng Xin said all the resentful spirits were going after him? What’s going on?”
“That’s the child who fell from the city wall during the Shangyuan Heavenly Ceremonial Procession.”
All four State Preceptors were taken aback.
The Chief State Preceptor demanded, “Why did you bring him here?”
Xie Lian shook his head, not wanting to explain, and instead asked Feng Xin, “What did he do to attract all the resentful spirits of the black pagodas?”
One of Feng Xin’s arms was still in a sling, and he rose to his feet. “I don’t know what he did! But not long after he arrived on the mountain, as soon as he came inside the Palace of Xianle, a bunch of those black things suddenly flew over from the other peaks. They were all barreling this way, swarming around him, gathering more by the minute. We couldn’t get out.”
Xie Lian looked around at the walls and pillars inside the Palace of Xianle, all burned to a crisp. “What about the fire?”
Mu Qing, whose face was covered in soot, said, “We couldn’t leave, so we had to draw an array to defend. Those resentful spirits used the candle flames as kindling and burned the curtains, hoping to force us out of the array.”
“Thank goodness Your Highness came swiftly and immediately seized their vitals! If it kept burning, we’d have been burned to death along with the array!”
Hearing his words, Mu Qing closed his eyes and hung his head. To the side, the four State Preceptors had already surrounded the child, scrutinizing him closely.
“State Preceptor, is there anything the matter with that child?”
If there was anything wrong, like if he were possessed by evil, Xie Lian should’ve been able to recognize it at a glance. In the years he’d studied at the Royal Holy Temple, he had specially trained his sight, and very few things could deceive his eyes. Yet he couldn’t see anything off with this child. The State Preceptor shook his head, also seeming to observe nothing amiss.
He asked the child, “What’s your birth date, month, year, and time?”
Honghong-er seemed guarded against everyone and tense with hostility, and he only stared at him without speaking.
Xie Lian encouraged gently, “Just tell him. The State Preceptor only wants to tell your fortune for your own good.”
The moment he spoke, Honghong-er obediently told them the time of his birth in a small voice. The State Preceptor knitted his brows and started divining with pinched fingers. The people nearby watched him for a bit, then discussed in hushed voices for a bit, and at the sight of his gradually dimming expression, Xie Lian also grew more and more solemn.
While the State Preceptor looked like no more than a tender thirty-something young man, Xie Lian knew better than most just how powerful his shifu was, as the one ruling over the Royal Holy Temple. The Chief State Preceptor of Xianle, Mei Nianqing, was famed throughout the land for his divination. Xie Lian learned the art of the sword and of spells from the Deputy State Preceptors, but he never learned the art of divination from the Chief State Preceptor himself. It was because the State Preceptor told him it was an art of the streets, and as the noble crown prince, he had no need for such tricks. Xie Lian himself also had no particular interest, so he never attempted it. However, whenever the State Preceptor worked his art, there were never any mistakes.